Levis hits grand slam, Upper Dublin tops Plymouth Whitemarsh to claim SOL Liberty Division title
WHITEMARSH >> With the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the fourth inning, Jared Levis swung at the first pitch offered to him.
Immediately, Upper Dublin baseball’s senior shortstop realized it was the correct decision.
“Right when I hit it I knew that one was out,” Levis said.
Levis sent the ball flying over the fence in right field for a grand slam, extending the visiting Cardinals’ lead to 6-0 over Plymouth Whitemarsh Monday afternoon.
“I was ready for a good pitch to hit and I got it first pitch,” Levis said. “So I put a good swing on it.”
The Colonials cut the margin in half but Upper Dublin warded off the rally try by adding a pair of runs in the sixth as the Cardinals clinched the outright Suburban One League Liberty Division title with an 8-3 victory.
“We’ve been working hard all year and it means a lot cause we play good baseball,” Levis said. “And we just keep putting together good at-bats and we have good pitching and it’s great to be league champs.”
Upper Dublin (14-4, 14-1), which earned its first SOL title since winning the American Conference in 2016, jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead in the top of the first as Eric Berman singled, went first to third on a Leo Soriano groundout then came home on Joe Levis’ two-out RBI single through the left side of the infield.
The Cards doubled their advantage in the third when Jared Levis scored on a double steal.
“I kind of let the reins go on the guys this last week, gave them the day off, let them have their own practice, let them take some ownership,” Upper Dublin coach Ed Wall said. “And I couldn’t be more proud with what they did out here on the field. They came out here excited, ready to rock.”
Aidan McCarthy and Austin Dahl began the top of the fourth with consecutive singles. After a Paul Stoffel sacrifice bunt advanced the runners to second and third, Bryce Greiner was hit by a pitch to load the bases with one out.
Plymouth Whitemarsh got a force out at home on a Brendan O’Brien fielder’s choice but on the next at-bat Levis took the first pitch and belted it out to right for the grand slam.
“Bases are loaded, I try to be aggressive,” Jared Levis said. “So I put a good swing on it.”
Berman went 2-for-3 with a run scored, Dahl was 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored while starting pitcher Aidan McCarthy threw five solid innings as the Cardinals won for the 12th time in their past 13 games.
“Big inning in any game is really crucial to winning against a really good team,” Wall said. “Those big innings come into play. We try to score first, we try to get that next run and then extend. We try to answer when they answer. When we’re doing all those things it ends up with wins and the boys did that today.”
McCarthy gave up three runs – two earned – on four hits. The left-hander walked two, struck out three and hit one batter.
“This is his best outing of the season,” said Wall of McCarthy. “He really brought it. Following in Tristan Cairnes’ footsteps is not an easy thing to do and he’s been the guy all season and couldn’t’ve been more proud of him in this, biggest game of the season so far.
Dahl did not give up a run in pitching the final two innings, giving up a hit, walking three and striking out two.
Lincoln Sharpe was 2-for-3 with a two-RBI double in the bottom of the fourth for the Colonials (14-4, 12-3), who came into Monday still with a chance at claiming the SOL Liberty title as a win would have had PW and Upper Dublin tied for first with just one division game remaining.
“I think there were a few times when they scored some runs we didn’t die we came back, we got some runners on base but then we fell off,” Plymouth Whitemarsh coach Chris Manero said. “We never felt we were out of the game but we just finish in certain opportunities to get ourselves back in.”
PW starting pitcher Dylan Robinson took the loss, allowing six runs – all earned – on four hits in four innings. He walked one, hit one batter and struck out three.
The Colonials sit third in the District 1-6A rankings and look to shore up their playoff position Wednesday visiting Wissahickon at 3:45 p.m. PW finishes the regular season with a road nonleague game at Radnor 4 p.m. Thursday.
“I think for us it’s maybe a good eye-opener for, hey, this what postseason baseball’s going to be like,” Manero said. “And today felt like an elimination game, obviously because we couldn’t win the league title now. But I think we need to play games like this and hopefully to be able to learn to succeed the next time.”
Upper Dublin, which is first in the District 1-5A rankings, hosts Hatboro-Horsham 4 p.m. Wednesday.
“The pitching just has to keep going and the bats are already good so we just got to keep rolling,” Jared Levis said.
With Upper Dublin up 1-0 after Joe Levis’ RBI single in the first, Jared Levis began the top of the second with a walk, stole second then went to third on a Berman single. As Berman stole second, Levis broke for home, getting a touch on home as he slid in to execute the double steal for a 2-0 lead.
“My coach told me if he throws it through you’re going unless he says to stop,” Jared Levis said. “So I was going all the way.”
After Jared Levis’ grand slam made it 6-0 in the top of the fourth Chase Olszyk led off the bottom of the inning with a single. UD got a force out at second on Gavin Rocks’ fielder’s choice but Colin Brady followed with a single to put two on with one out. The next batter Sharpe connected on a double to left, bringing in both runners to pull the Colonials to within 6-2.
Gabe Caucci stated PW’s half of the fifth with a walk then went to second when Johnny Giordano was hit by a pitch with one out. A passed ball moved both runners up with Caucci scoring to make it 6-3 as Olszyk reached on an error on a grounder up the middle.
PW, however, left a pair on base after a groundout to the pitcher and a fly out to left.
In the top of the sixth, Stoffel led off reaching on an error. He took second on a wild pitch then an error on his steal of third allowed him to come home, putting UD up 7-3.
After loading the bases with two walks and a hit by pitch, the Cardinals tacked on another run in the inning on a wild pitch.
Three walks gave Plymouth Whitemarsh the bases loaded with two outs in the bottom of the seventh but Dahl seal the division crown for UD with a strikeout.
Upper Dublin 8, Plymouth Whitemarsh 3
Upper Dublin 101 402 0 – 8 7 1
Plymouth Whitemarsh 000 210 0 – 3 5 2
WP: Aidan McCarthy 5 IP 4 H 3 R 2 ER 3 2 BB 3 SO 1 HB.
LP: Dylan Robinson 4 IP 6 H 6 R 6 ER 1 BB 3 SO 1 HB.
2B: UD-Austin Dahl; PW-Lincoln Sharpe; HR: UD-Jared Levis.
Upper Dublin: Dahl 2-4, R; Levis 4 RBI, 2 R; Eric Berman 2-4, R.
Plymouth Whitemarsh: Sharpe 2-3, 2 RBI.
